It had been several days since the lecturing sword for
The magic sword had inherited its personality and manner of speech from the Chief Priest's magic, but it apparently had no actual knowledge whatsoever. From here on, it would gradually learn by being taught by its master Angelica, and by listening to the conversations around her.
In other words, right now it meant being lectured by something that knew nothing at all.
"So it just has that lecturing vibe to it?"
When I muttered in my mind that it seemed pretty annoying, the magic sword glinted and said in a heavy tone, "First and foremost, it is critical that my master accumulates knowledge." Its manner of speaking was completely that of the Chief Priest.
"In any case, for Stylenruch to gain knowledge, Angelica will need to study."
"Unlike me, Stylenruch never forgets, so there's real value in teaching it."
"Stylenruch?"
"That's the name of this magic sword."
Angelica smiled and gently stroked the magic sword.
Dammuel, who had been looking down at the magic sword speaking in the Chief Priest's tone with an indescribable expression, let out a slow sigh.
"Then, for Stylenruch to build up its knowledge, why don't you start preparing for the fourth-year curriculum?"
"Indeed. The materials Lord
Dammuel murmured that it would be far less of a burden now that Angelica no longer needed everything explained multiple times before she could understand.
"Yes. I think it would be best to study ahead so I don't end up with another storm of remedial lessons."
Angelica nodded obediently with a serious look, then her blue eyes lit up. She softly held out the magic sword toward Dammuel.
"Stylenruch, do your best."
"My lord! First of all, what are you doing not studying yourself!? If you don't flow magic into me, I cannot pick up the voices around us. You need to organize what you've learned and be able to teach me, or my magic won't last!"
It seemed she couldn't keep magic flowing all day long, and Angelica clutched the magic sword tightly, her eyes widening in shock.
"So… there's no escaping studying?"
"Of course not, you fool!"
…Truly worthy of the Chief Priest clone.
I wished she'd keep making Angelica study like this.
"I'll try to organize the material so Angelica can study alongside Stylenruch."
"That would help a lot, Dammuel."
I watched Dammuel and
If I hadn't read it before, whether reference book or supplementary material, I read it first. That was my way of living.
Reminiscing about the happiness of getting new textbooks when I'd entered a new school year, I went through the materials Lord Eckhart had provided.
He had apparently been asking the Chief Priest for instruction. As I looked through the materials with the Chief Priest's annotations scattered throughout, I furrowed my brows.
"Hey,
"Yes, Lady Rozemynye?"
"If I compiled reference books from the Noble Academy materials that Lord Eckhart and Lord
Top students' notes were worth seeing even in the Reon era. In a school without textbooks where each student had to compile their own notes from lectures, these reference books would be quite valuable, wouldn't they?
"I think they'd certainly sell. However…"
Brigitte said that while glancing at Dammuel with a wry smile in her amethyst eyes. When I followed her gaze, I could see Dammuel wearing a troubled expression.
"Dammuel, is there some kind of problem?"
"Selling wooden tablets summarizing lecture content, or writing down lectures on someone's behalf—it was a good source of pocket money for lower-ranking nobles who didn't have much to spare. I think there are students who would face financial hardship if reference books compiled by Lady Rozemynye based on Lord Ferdinand's and Lord Eckhart's materials were sold."
"I see…"
I couldn't very well crush the precious income source of poor students. If I were to sell reference books, I'd need to find another way for students to earn money.
"I thought it was a good idea for raising Ehrenfest's academic standards, but perhaps I should think about it a bit more."
"My apologies."
While we were discussing this, an ordinanz came flying from the Chief Priest to Brigitte. The white bird flapped in and landed on Brigitte's wrist, then began speaking in the Chief Priest's voice.
Apparently, a request to meet with me had come from the Plantane Company. They wanted to consult about something before summer.
Earthday was a holiday, so I could use that to return to the
"This is Rozemynye. I'll return to the Temple after completing the day-after-tomorrow's Mana Supply on the day of flesh, and return to the castle before the Waterday Mana Supply. Please tell
"Understood. Get your affairs here in order by Earthday. When the third bell rings, come to my room."
The Chief Priest's reply confirmed that my weekend was now shot. Having spent the past few weekends relaxing at the castle reading books, this was going to be a rough one.
At dinner, I informed Grandfather
"I'd like to check on the workshop and the orphanage, so after I finish the day-of-flesh Mana Supply, I'll be away until the Waterday Mana Supply."
"Mm. Don't push yourself too hard."
Grandfather Bonifatius nodded, brief as always.
Grandfather Bonifatius looked like Father—despite his age, he was quite large and bristling with muscle. He came off as scary because his manner of speaking was more blunt than Father's, and his gaze was sharper.
But according to Brother Cornelius, he was actually soft on me.
Apparently, Grandfather Bonifatius almost never worried about other people's physical condition. At the very least, whenever his other grandchildren fell ill, he would always bark "How fragile!" at them.
In my case, Father had warned him that "if you bark at Rozemynye in your booming voice, she'll die," and it was already well known that I'd collapsed in the castle multiple times and was genuinely frail, so Brother Cornelius said he deliberately kept his distance. He was apparently afraid of getting close to a child who could lose consciousness from a single snowball.
No wonder he always seemed to be keeping his distance.
"Rozemynye, you can travel all the way to the Temple after finishing your Mana Supply? You're stubbornly tough in the strangest places."
Brother Wilfried furrowed his brow and muttered that. Even just moving a magic stone's magic left him exhausted, so he couldn't believe I could travel to the Temple after completing a Mana Supply.
"And yet you look perfectly fine doing Mana Supplies despite nearly dying just from running around."
"Physical stamina and magic are separate things."
It was partly because I'd grown accustomed to magic flowing through my body, and partly because I used magic regularly so it never built up too much. Compared to my Commoner days when magic would swell inside me, life was considerably easier now.
And so, the day of flesh arrived. Just as planned, by the time I finished my Mana Supply and returned to the Temple, it was already late at night—the seventh bell was about to ring.
"Welcome back, Lady Rozemynye."
My Attendants were lined up to greet me. It had been a while, and it felt wonderfully nostalgic.
"I'm home. Is everyone doing well?"
Once I returned to my room, I took a bath that had been prepared right away. After that, while drinking tea
First, I heard from Fran and Zamb, who had been managing the High Priest's quarters. Nothing had really changed, except that Fran, Zamb, and Monica were no longer working in the High Priest's quarters but had moved to the Chief Priest's room.
"There haven't been changes inside the room, but the Temple itself is gradually changing."
"Knowing that Lord
Blue Priests who had previously been neutral were reportedly getting close to the Chief Priest after seeing how things were going for Kamil and Frittek. The Chief Priest judged that since they'd been neutral all along, there wouldn't be much harm, and so education had begun for them as well.
The Blue Priests who up until now hadn't been doing anything resembling real work now wore expressions like early Kamil and Frittek, and apparently Kamil and Frittek were looking at them with lukewarm eyes, remembering the path they themselves had walked.
"The Chief Priest is full of vitality. Also, the number of times he takes medication—which you were worried about, Lady Rozemynye—has dropped dramatically."
"Perhaps it's because he now has someone to gradually delegate work to. He seems to have more breathing room."
Not only was the Chief Priest managing his work without relying on medication, but promising successors seemed to be growing steadily. The Blue Priests undergoing his intensive education would have it rough, but good, good.
"…Gil,
After hearing Fran and Zamb's reports, I moved on to reports from Gil and Fritz. The progress of printing at the workshop was my top concern.
As I stared intently at the picture book in Gil's hands and asked my question, he noticed my gaze and smilingly held it out to me.
"The picture books for the winter Divine Beasts are finished."
I took the picture book Gil offered and slowly ran my fingers across the cover. Rubbing my cheek against it, the scent of ink tickled my nose. A wonderful smell.
I lined up all the picture books that had been placed in my room on the table. The picture books for the Supreme God and the Five Great Gods, along with the ones for each season's Divine Beasts, were all neatly arranged.
Seeing the completed picture books of the Holy Book for children, I was filled with bliss. Before I knew it, a sigh of wonder had escaped my lips.
"Aah, having a complete set of books is simply exquisite. It's magnificent. Let me offer my gratitude to my Gutenbergs, and pray to the gods! To
As I raised both hands crisply to offer my prayer, Gil nodded vigorously, his near-black purple eyes gleaming with pride.
"I'm glad Lady Rozemynye is pleased."
"You did well, Gil. I'm happy to have such a hardworking Attendant. Now then, what shall we print next? We need to keep increasing our books at this pace. Fufufu."
Fran let out a sigh and lightly tapped my shoulder.
"…Lady Rozemynye, you're too excited. Please tone it down a bit. Zamb and Fritz look alarmed."
My love for books had only spilled over a tiny bit, but Zamb and Fritz's faces had gone taut, and they were visibly retreating.
"Gentlemen, this is Lady Rozemynye's normal reaction when confronted with books. You'll get used to it."
While Fran was saying that, I gathered the picture books into a stack and carefully arranged them on the shelf. Even just standing a little distance away and looking at the books lining my room was enough to draw a sigh of satisfaction.
…Aah, lovely.
It wasn't just the Library—having more books fill my own room was truly wonderful. How could I express this happiness of gradually accumulating more books?
"I want to share this happiness with everyone in the world."
"…After the Star Binding Ceremony, wouldn't selling them to everyone be sharing the happiness?"
Gil had said something wonderful. I looked up at Gil with shining eyes.
"Exactly. I'll share this happiness with everyone. But since we're at it, I'd like to increase the number of books a bit more. Gil, do you think the collection of knight stories will be finished by the Star Binding Ceremony?"
At my question, Gil went "hmm," twisted his neck, held up his fingers and counted something, then shook his head regretfully.
"Three short stories are done, but I don't think we'll have time to print all of them."
"Setting the metal type and proofreading both take considerable time, so whether two more short stories will be finished by the Star Binding Ceremony is about the question," Fritz added, bringing out the partially completed short stories.
"Lady Rozemynye, how would you like the knight stories bound? All together once they're complete, or each short story separately? I would appreciate your instructions."
I flipped through the three short stories of knight tales Fritz handed me, considering how to sell them.
Since we'd be making covers for each anyway, binding them individually shouldn't be a problem. Besides, not everyone could afford to buy the full set, but some might be able to manage a single short story.
"Bind them one short story at a time. We'll sell them as they're completed."
"Understood."
"Lady Rozemynye, the mimeograph press is free now that the picture book printing is done. Is there anything we could print with it?"
At Gil's reassuring words about printing as much as I wanted, I pulled my "Things I Want to Make" list from my desk drawer.
"With dense text, metal-type relief printing gives you neat, beautiful lettering, so if we're going to use the mimeograph, it'd be best for printed materials with lots of illustrations or diagrams. What would be good?"
If we were going to sell them after the Star Binding Ceremony, it would be better to have books that adults could enjoy, unlike the winter sale at the Children's Room.
If things settled down, we could also start printing sheet music and recipe books that I'd been wanting to make.
"I think sheet music and recipe collections would be well-suited for the mimeograph, but I'll decide after consulting with the Chief Priest tomorrow."
"Understood."
I wouldn't have much time at the Temple. If I tried to get through everything on my schedule, it was going to be quite hectic.
When the third bell rang, I'd be helping in the Chief Priest's room, so I'd ask then whether I could work on the sheet music and recipe books.
I wrote my schedule on a writing tablet and told Fran, then slowly climbed into bed.
If I'd been at the castle on Earthday, it would have been a lovely rest day where I could spend the whole time curled up in the Library, but at the Temple, the routine remained unchanged. The moment the third bell rang, I headed to the Chief Priest's room.
"Excuse me, Chief Priest."
"Ah, you're here. Then let me introduce the new Blue Priests who have started working in the Chief Priest's quarters."
The Chief Priest looked up from his documents and said that. Several Blue Priests I hadn't seen before stopped their work and knelt. They were apparently the Blue Priests newly undergoing education. Like me, they had wooden tablets piled up and appeared to be wrestling with their Calculators.
"I'll introduce them from the left."
After the introductions were complete, I fielded a few questions about life at the castle, and we finally got to the main topic.
I leaned over the Chief Priest's desk and began discussing the books I wanted to make.
"So, the picture books about the gods are finished, and I'd like to use the mimeograph to print sheet music and recipe books next. Would it be alright to print and sell the sheet music you performed at the recital?"
The source material had been my own humming, but it was the Chief Priest and
"Those aren't my compositions, so unless you plan to attach some strange illustrations, do as you please."
"Huh? But I intend to put the Chief Priest's name in the composer field. I still can't write sheet music myself, and it was the Chief Priest who arranged them for fechspiel, wasn't it?"
"What I did was arrangement. I didn't compose them, so I cannot have my name listed as composer."
The Chief Priest said this and refused to be listed as composer.
I also felt reluctant about putting my own name as the composer here. I only knew these pieces from my memories of the Reon era—I hadn't actually composed them.
"I can't even play them myself, so it would be strange for me to be listed as composer…"
"Composing and being able to play are separate matters. Record the attribution correctly."
"…Yes."
I'd been planning to dump the spotlight on the Chief Priest, but he'd blocked me. Fine. I'd make the Chief Priest's and Rosina's names prominent in the arrangement field, and for the composer, I'd just put a small "Original concept: Rozemynye."
"Also, I'd like to create a Rozemynye's Curated Recipe Collection as well. Are there any concerns?"
"A recipe collection is fine, but sell it next winter. It would be better to sell it at a gathering where all the nobles are assembled. Generate interest at the Star Binding Ceremony by showcasing new dishes, then casually spread information about the recipe book's sale and let rumors about the price circulate. Unlike other books, a recipe collection will be expensive."
For the recipe collection, I hadn't even properly settled on a price yet. I'd need to consider whether it should balance out what my adoptive father had paid, or go with a limited release to create a premium feel and drive up the price—perhaps I should consult
"Then I'll start preparing for printing the sheet music and recipe books. I plan to have Rosina write the sheet music—is that acceptable?"
"Ah. With her, there's no problem."
Rosina had beautiful penmanship and deep knowledge of music. The Chief Priest nodded lightly, having seen Rosina's sheet music when they were arranging pieces together.
"If you've finished your business, get to work. Calculations have piled up."
"Yes."
After a long time, I grabbed a large armful of wooden tablets and began scribbling away on my Slate. One of the new Blue Priests' eyes went wide as he muttered, "Too fast." It seemed the newcomers couldn't keep up with the Chief Priest's expected speed of calculation.
"Don't space out, all of you. You're already slow as it is, so don't rest—keep calculating."
Without even looking up from his documents, the Chief Priest's rebuke flew over, and the Blue Priests swallowed hard, then began working their Calculators. Their movements suggested it would take some time before they got the hang of it.
When the fourth bell rang, it was lunchtime.
I finished my calculations and returned to my room, then hurried over to Rosina, who was playing the fechspiel.
"Rosina, the Chief Priest has given his approval. I'd like you to create the sheet music."
"Which sheet music?"
Rosina stopped playing, blinked several times, then tilted her head gently. Her movements were as elegant and mesmerizing as ever.
"Every piece the Chief Priest played at the fechspiel recital. I'll be selling them as sheet music, so please write them carefully. I'd like the song titles and arranger name to be written beautifully, like decorative lettering."
"Understood. I will complete them with care, befitting my role as Lady Rozemynye's personal musician."
Rosina, who fundamentally loved anything and everything related to music, happily accepted the request to create sheet music.
When I instructed that the arranger was the Chief Priest and that my name should be included small as the original concept, Rosina paused in thought, placing a hand on her cheek and letting her gaze wander.
"Lady Rozemynye, in addition to the sheet music arranged by the Chief Priest, would it be alright to create sheet music arranged by me as well?"
At Rosina's question, my face lit up and I clapped my hands.
"Of course. The more books, the better. Once the sheet music is ready, please hand it to Fritz or Gil. I'll let them know to print it."
"Lady Rozemynye, I understand you're excited, but please finish lunch before talking about printing."
Fran's exasperated voice rang out as I got carried away by the joy of increasing our printed materials. It was eerily reminiscent of how my mother used to speak in the Reon era. She'd often sound exactly like that when I'd get absorbed in reading and forget to eat.
"I'm going now."
As I shrugged and took my seat,
"Nicola, I've decided to make a Rozemynye's Curated Recipe Collection."
"Wow, a recipe collection? How exciting—delicious food will spread to everyone!"
As Nicola clapped her hands in delight, I asked her to serve as an intermediary with Hugo and Ella. It would be simplest if I could speak with the cooks directly, but as the Lord's adopted daughter, it wasn't even easy for me to enter the kitchen.
"I'd like to proceed while consulting with Hugo and Ella as well, but first, could you write down all the recipes you know? Then, could you sort them into two groups—dishes that are easy to make and relatively familiar, and dishes where the preparation process is complex enough that even reading the recipe wouldn't make sense? Once we decide which recipes to include…"
"Lady Rozemynye. As I mentioned before, please save the discussion about printing for after lunch."
Fran's smile had turned cold as she stood there holding a water pitcher. This was bad.
"I'm sorry. Let's eat."
I immediately apologized and picked up my cutlery. "I'll go prepare the next course," Nicola said as she hurried off to the kitchen.
As I was stuffing seasonal salad into my mouth, something suddenly occurred to me.
"Monica, I'm sorry, but could you go to the workshop and borrow some needle and thread for binding books?"
"Lady Rozemynye, about printing…"
"It's—It's not about printing. It's about bookbinding. Well, rather, about this afternoon's plans and preparations for them."
I quickly tried to smooth things over with Fran. Fran pressed her temple just like the Chief Priest would. If it had been the Chief Priest, he would have said, "Honestly, that girl."
We really were master and servant alike. Maybe she'd become more like the Chief Priest because she'd been helping with his work the whole time I'd been at the castle.
I watched Monica leave the room and then, this time, actually kept quiet and ate.
After lunch came bookbinding work. I was going to bind the mother's bedtime story collection that I'd been steadily writing since winter.
Incidentally, the cover was an illustration of my family that I'd drawn myself. The chibi style probably wouldn't be well received here, but without photographs, there was nothing I could do.
Once I finished this one-of-a-kind handmade picture book, I'd give it to
For the summer sale, it looked like we'd have the autumn and winter Divine Beast picture books, knight story short stories, and sheet music.
Next up was the meeting with the Plantane Company.